You know that we don’t like to brag about how the Avangate eCommerce platform is the best in the Universe ;) , but a recent survey of eCommerce providers for software vendors shows that, well… we are the best! Hurraaay!

It turned out that out of 14 major eCommerce providers rated by 192 software vendors on Andy Brice’s blog, Avangate was rated highest!

The survey covered important aspects that software vendors need to keep in mind when choosing an eCommerce provider: features, ease of use, reliability, support, fraud protection, ethics, value for money.

A big thank you to all our clients (some of them listed here) that took part in the survey and we promise to do our best to be better every day:).

Although even Andy warns that the survey should not be taken as official statistical data, we can’t help but feel proud of the outcome.

ReadWriteWeb - Web technology blog

Bob Walsh’s new book, “The Web Startup Success Guide” has just been officially launched on Amazon. As promised in my previous post, here is another example of what you’ll find in his book after purchase. It’s a cool interview he made with Marshall Kirkpatrick, Lead Writer at  ReadWriteWeb, who gives advice to tech startups on approaching him with newsworthy information. Hope you’ll find it useful as well, here’s the interview:

Bob: What’s the right way for startups to approach you who want you to write about them? What’s the wrong way?

I’m really excited to bring to your attention the brand new book written by our friend and collaborator, Bob Walsh.  It’s called “The Web Startup Success Guide” and its official launch date is next week, on the 22nd of July, 2009 (you can find it on Amazon). The book promises to be a great resource for startups, the must-read type and I can’t wait to get a copy:). I promise a larger review after I read the whole book, until then, just wanted to share with you a short excerpt about Avangate.

Of course, other eCommerce providers are shortly reviewed in Bob’s book, but Avangate is his “no 1″:D. So here’s the whole description of Avangate in “The Web Startup Success Guide”:

"The Web Startup Success Guide", by Bob Walsh

The first alternative to PayPal I recommend is Avangate (http://www.avangate.com), for two reasons. First, over the years I’ve met and talked with a lot of Avangate’s management and staff at all sorts of startup/microISV conferences and events they sponsor or at which they speak or participate. This is a company that well and truly likes and supports startups.

Second, and more tellingly, when people running startups and microISVs swap recommendations as to who to use for e-commerce at those various conferences or at huge public forums such as Joel on Software Business of Software (http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/default.asp?biz) or private boards such as that run by the Association of Shareware Professionals (http://www.asp-shareware.org), you find nothing but positive recommendations when it comes to Avangate.

Avangate does more than process payments. From fielding a solid affiliate program to robust sales and lead analytics, software download, and physical fulfillment and registration key delivery, this company can make a lot of your startup’s headaches go away. Of course, more service means you pay for more than bare-bones credit card processing – depending on which services you want, you’ll pay somewhere between 4.9% and 8% per sale.

Almost 2 weeks ago we got back from the 18th edition of the Software Industry Conference held this year in Boston, Massachusetts. I know it’s taken me a while to write this, but I can explain. It’s called jet lag plus hundreds of e-mails.

It was a busy and successful participation for us: 3 presentations, 1 hospitality suite where we met with the participants (some of them our clients and partners), exhibit night, nice parties, and networking with beer, chocolate and sea food (OK, I’ll admit it, this was my favorite).

I really enjoyed presenting, thanks to Paris Karahalios for inviting us on the (you can download the presentations): Social Networking Media panel (I got a lot of friends on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, so I think the presentation reached its goal), as well as the Effective Advertising & Marketing panel.